LinkedIn Zip Alternative: Free Daily Path Puzzle

LinkedIn's Zip has a rule you can explain in one breath: draw a single line through every square of the grid, touching the numbered dots in order. No arithmetic, no vocabulary, nothing to memorize. You just need to look at the board and think a few moves ahead. That simplicity is exactly why it became a daily habit for so many people, and why it's frustrating when the one board of the day is gone in ninety seconds.

If you want to keep playing after today's Zip, or you'd rather not log into a professional network to solve a puzzle, this guide is for you. We'll explain how the path-puzzle genre works, what makes a good one, and where to play Trail, our free daily take on the format.

What kind of puzzle is Zip?

Zip belongs to a family that puzzle designers call path puzzles or Hamiltonian path puzzles. A Hamiltonian path is a route through a grid (or any network of points) that visits every point exactly once. Mathematicians have studied these routes since the 1800s, and finding one in a large, irregular network is famously hard for computers.

Puzzle makers turned that hard problem into a fun one by adding clues. In paper puzzle books, the best-known versions are Numbrix and Hidato, where some cells are pre-filled with numbers and you fill in the rest so consecutive numbers touch. Zip keeps the same skeleton but makes it visual: instead of writing numbers, you drag a line, and only a handful of numbered stops are shown. Walls between some cells add a second kind of clue by blocking moves.

Why one board a day isn't always enough

The daily format is a big part of the charm. Everyone gets the same board, you compare times with colleagues, and the puzzle never eats more than a few minutes. But it has downsides:

• You can't practise. If a technique clicks on Tuesday, you have to wait until Wednesday to try it again.
• You need an account. LinkedIn's games live inside the LinkedIn app and site, so you have to be signed in.
• There's no difficulty choice. Some days are easy, some are hard, and you get what you get.

None of this is a criticism of Zip itself, which is a lovely puzzle. It's just why so many players go looking for more.

Trail: our free daily path puzzle

Trail uses the same core rules. Start on the 1, draw one line through every cell of the grid, pass the numbered stops in order, finish on the highest number, and never cross a wall. Here's what you get:

• A new daily board at 00:00 UTC, the same for every player, so you can still compare with friends.
• Unlimited practice. Switch to practice mode and play as many boards as you like, each one freshly generated.
• Two sizes. Normal is a 6×6 board with nine stops. Hard (Pro) is a 7×7 board with fewer stops, so you have to plan longer stretches yourself.
• No account. Open the page and play. An account is only needed if you want your streaks saved and your times on the leaderboard.
• Mouse, touch and keyboard. Drag with a finger or the mouse, or use the arrow keys and Backspace.

Every Trail board is checked by a solver before it reaches you: the generator builds a random route through the whole grid, places the stops along it, then adds walls wherever a second route would sneak through. The board is only served once the solver confirms there is exactly one solution. You never have to guess.

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How Trail compares with Zip

The two games share their rules, so the skills carry over completely. The differences are in how they're served:

• Daily board: both free. Zip needs a LinkedIn account; Trail doesn't.
• Practice: Zip offers the daily board only; Trail adds unlimited practice boards.
• Board size: Zip changes from day to day; Trail lets you choose 6×6 or 7×7.
• Extras: Trail has a built-in timer, a share card and a leaderboard.

Nothing stops you playing both. Plenty of players do Zip at work and a few Trail boards at lunch.

A quick start for new players

If you've never played a path puzzle, these three habits will get you through your first boards:

1. 1Look at the corners first. A corner cell only has two neighbours, so unless it's the start or the end, the line must enter through one and leave through the other. Those two moves are fixed before you draw anything.
2. 2Never cut the board in two. If your line seals off a group of empty cells, you can never reach them again. Before each move, check that every empty cell is still connected to the end of your trail.
3. 3Count the gap between stops. If stops 4 and 5 sit two cells apart but there's a whole empty region nearby, the line has to wander through that region before it reaches 5.

We go much deeper in our Trail solving guide, including a colouring trick that settles a lot of boards on its own.

Playing for time

Once you can solve every board, the next challenge is the clock. Both Zip and Trail time your solve, and the leaderboard on Trail shows how you stack up against other players on the same daily board. A few habits make a big difference:

• Read before you draw. Spend the first five seconds scanning for corners, walls and close-together stops. A solve that starts late but never backs up is almost always faster than one that starts instantly and has to undo.
• Draw in long strokes. Once you know where a stretch of the line goes, drag through it in one movement instead of cell by cell.
• Keep your eyes ahead of your finger. While you draw one section, be planning the next. The best times come from never pausing.
• Use practice for speed, daily for pride. Run a few practice boards to warm up, then play the daily board once you're in the rhythm.

Other daily puzzles Zip players enjoy

Path puzzles train a particular kind of thinking: you reason about the whole board at once rather than one cell at a time. If that's what you like, these games scratch a similar itch:

• Queens: place one crown in every row, column and coloured region, with no two touching. Our free take on LinkedIn's Queens. More in our Queens vs LinkedIn Queens guide.
• Tango: balance suns and moons across a grid. See Tango vs LinkedIn Tango.
• Plots: split the grid into rectangles sized by their numbers, our free version of LinkedIn's Patches. Read the Patches alternative guide.
• Knot: drag points until no lines cross. A different kind of spatial puzzle, with the same satisfying final click.

Why path puzzles are good for your brain

We're careful with brain-training claims, because the science is more modest than the marketing. What path puzzles reliably give you is practice at planning ahead and holding several constraints in mind at once: where the line must go, where it can't go, and which cells it still owes a visit. They also reward patience. Rushing a path puzzle usually means backing up, and learning to slow down and check the whole board is a habit worth having. For a balanced look at the research, see our article on whether brain training games actually work.

Ready to draw?

Zip turned an old mathematical idea into one of the most pleasant minutes of the day. Trail gives you the same feeling whenever you want it: a fresh daily board, unlimited practice, no account and no guessing. Start with today's board, and if it takes you more than a couple of minutes, try a few practice rounds and watch your time drop.